Re: Amazon Kindle

--- In [email protected], "Kent S. Larsen II" <kent@...> wrote:
>
> At 11:57 AM -0600 11/27/07, Elizabeth Burton wrote:
> >ASIN is just the way Amazon inventories--the "SIN" stands for
> >"standard identification number." It's no different from the stock
> >numbers any retailer assigns to inventory for purposes of efficiency.
> 
> I agree. I knew that already.
> 
> You probably know that ISBN stands for "International Standard Book Number."
> 
> The ISBN is, in a way just a SIN that is industry wide. This is why Amazon uses the ISBN 
for its ASIN on print books. They generate their own number only when the ISBN doesn't 
exist.
> 
> This is why its confusing when they don't accept and use the publishers ISBN for books 
converted to the Kindle format.
> 

Actually, it makes a lot of sense.  Amazon doesn't "own" the book they are converting to 
Kindle format, so they probably aren't going to tack an ISBN onto it, since ISBNs belong to 
the publisher, not the reseller.  

But, since the book is in a new form (i.e., not in hardcopy as a paperback, hardback, trade 
paperback, or as an audiobook of some kind, etc.) they cannot use the existing ISBN.  That 
is against all the rules.  (Any change in form, such as from trade paperback to audiobook,  
requires a new ISBN.)

So, since they are not producing this to be sold through any other outlet (you won't find 
B&N selling a Kindle-copy, at least at this point) and they cannot use the same ISBN, it 
makes perfect sense for them to generate a new tracking number and use their ASINs for 
that purpose.  It may be inconvenient for you, but it makes sense.

The original publisher could, in agreement with Amazon, issue a new ISBN to the Kindle 
version if they wished, but I don't know if they would wish to do that when Amazon can 
handle the job with an ASIN and it will not cost the publisher anything.  An ISBN ultimately 
costs the publisher some amount of money, depending upon how many they buy at a 
time.


Tony Burton






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